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"Horizons/West" (2025) completes the thematic arc begun with "Horizons/East" (2021), pairing personal reflection with sweeping sonic ambition. Self-produced by the band, engineered by guitarist Teppei Teranishi, mixed by Scott Evans, and mastered by Matthew J. Barnhart, "Horizons/West"balances cinematic tones with spacious atmosphere. Teranishi calls it "less dense," while vocalist Dustin Kensrue sees it as their first sequel-two halves of a larger emotional and political panorama. Blending post-rock textures from their earlier albums "Beggars" and "Major/Minor", with rhythmic complexity from "Horizons/East", the band sharpens its edge without losing nuance. Kensrue"s vocals shift from whisper to roar, anchoring meditations on perception, memory, and social influence. "Horizons/West" looks inward while never ignoring the larger world - urging listeners not to adopt beliefs, but to interrogate them. After more than two decades, Thrice continues building catharsis from chaos, and clarity from noise.

"Horizons/West" (2025) completes the thematic arc begun with "Horizons/East" (2021), pairing personal reflection with sweeping sonic ambition. Self-produced by the band, engineered by guitarist Teppei Teranishi, mixed by Scott Evans, and mastered by Matthew J. Barnhart, "Horizons/West"balances cinematic tones with spacious atmosphere. Teranishi calls it "less dense," while vocalist Dustin Kensrue sees it as their first sequel-two halves of a larger emotional and political panorama. Blending post-rock textures from their earlier albums "Beggars" and "Major/Minor", with rhythmic complexity from "Horizons/East", the band sharpens its edge without losing nuance. Kensrue"s vocals shift from whisper to roar, anchoring meditations on perception, memory, and social influence. "Horizons/West" looks inward while never ignoring the larger world - urging listeners not to adopt beliefs, but to interrogate them. After more than two decades, Thrice continues building catharsis from chaos, and clarity from noise.

Mutant, in association with Walt Disney Music and LucasFilm, are proud to present a 20th anniversary celebratory pressing of John William's original score to the iconic final chapter of the Star Wars prequel trilogy - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.



Following a powerful return to cinemas this spring, George Lucas' 2005 science fiction epic has continued to capture the hearts generation after generation. Returning for his sixth Star Wars film, John Williams brings the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker to life with a masterful flair. From the opening fanfare's hard pivot to the action packed dogfight, Williams weaves between kinetic adventure, and haunting heartbreak with grace and precision. In a series full of the absolute pinnacle of music ever committed to film, Revenge of the Sith sits proudly side by side, while feeling wholly unique.



Long out of print on physical media, and only being pressed on Vinyl for the second time ever, this limited edition release features incredible original artwork by Matt Ferguson and is pressed on 2x 140gm black vinyl.

Ostinato as resistance: Rafael Anton Irisarri’s landmark work reimagined. Marking the tenth anniversary of the American composer’s critically acclaimed album 'A Fragile Geography', this new edition arrives renewed, both sonically and visually.

First released in 2015 (Room40) during a period of personal upheaval and creative reinvention, it endures as a testament to resilience, transformation, and the connection we hold with the places that shape us.

Written in the aftermath of a devastating theft, A Fragile Geography was born out of loss. Just days before a cross-country move to New York, Irisarri’s entire Seattle-based studio was wiped out. Instruments. Recordings. Archives. Gone without a trace. He arrived on the East Coast to an empty room and the daunting task of starting over.

“This album wasn’t just a record; it was a lifeline,” Irisarri reflects. “It became a way to process the emotional chaos that followed: uprooting, instability, and ultimately, the slow, intuitive rebuilding of a life.”

Composed and recorded in the rural woods of the Hudson Valley, the album took shape in seclusion, surrounded by nature, and through a process guided by improvisation. Embracing limitations, Irisarri wove textural layers of field recordings with half-remembered melodies from his Seattle years, piecing them together like fragments of memory. Tracks like “Displacement,” “Hiatus,” and “Persistence” juxtaposed haunting stillness with restless momentum, mapping an inner terrain of grief, catharsis, and rebirth.

Among its defining sounds is “Empire Systems,” a monumental centerpiece built around a simple four-chord progression, organ textures, and guitar drones. Gradually, the track expands into layers of immersive loops and thick, enveloping distortion that wash over the listener like a rolling wave. Often cited as the album’s most majestic passage, it captures Irisarri at his most sonically ambitious. With a harmonically saturated structure crafted from restraint and repetition, it remains one of his most recognizable compositions: an exercise in the art of maximal minimalism.

From the outset, “Reprisal” received praise from BBC’s Mary Anne Hobbs, who championed the track on her radio show. Her support played a key role in introducing Irisarri’s work to wider audiences and solidifying his place within the lineage of electronic, drone, and experimental sound artists. A slow-burning elegy, the piece emerges from a haze of distortion and sub-bass, with dense, unrelenting drones carrying a sense of mounting tension. Just as it seems to collapse under its own weight, flickers of guitar emerge like distant light through fog. It’s a meditation on dissonance, resolve, and the elusive possibility of release.

The closing track, “Secretly Wishing for Rain,” is steeped in saudade: a longing for Seattle’s dour grey skies, lush green landscapes, and desaturated sunsets. Through it, Irisarri mourns a vanished chapter of life bound to the city, a time documented in scattered mementos and cherished collections, now permanently gone. A reflection on what could never be recovered: an era lost to time. Julia Kent’s looped cello motifs added a melancholic warmth to the track, marking the first collaboration between the two artists and sparking a musical dialogue that would keep growing in the years that followed.

More than a career highlight, A Fragile Geography has laid the foundation for Black Knoll studio, which Irisarri rebuilt from the ground up. The studio has since grown into a creative hub for countless projects, with Irisarri engineering records for iconic music figures like Terry Riley, Ryuichi Sakamoto, William Basinski, MONO, Devendra Banhart, Grouper, Emeralds, Steve Hauschildt, Julianna Barwick, and many others. Carried by its lasting influence, the album has quietly captured the ear of a younger generation, its sound and emotional arc finding new listeners in unexpected corners.

The album’s new visual language was reimagined in collaboration with Mexico City–based designer Daniel Castrejón. Irisarri captured ghostly images at Gaztelugatxeko Doniene, a historic coastal site in Bermeo, Euskal Herria. Castrejón then treated the photographs with distressed textures and spectral overlays. The final artwork channels the rugged, elemental forces that shaped both the music and Irisarri’s aesthetic, renewing his ties to ancestral ground inspired by the Basque homeland of his bloodline.

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu with exceptional attention to detail, this anniversary edition uncovers every nuance in the sound design, enhancing clarity and presence. With each listen, new elements emerge, inviting discovery and reconnection.

“I don’t experience this album as a document of grief anymore,” says Irisarri. “I hear adaptation and I'm reminded that when everything falls apart, something meaningful, maybe even beautiful, can emerge.”

Ostinato as resistance: Rafael Anton Irisarri’s landmark work reimagined. Marking the tenth anniversary of the American composer’s critically acclaimed album 'A Fragile Geography', this new edition arrives renewed, both sonically and visually.

First released in 2015 (Room40) during a period of personal upheaval and creative reinvention, it endures as a testament to resilience, transformation, and the connection we hold with the places that shape us.

Written in the aftermath of a devastating theft, A Fragile Geography was born out of loss. Just days before a cross-country move to New York, Irisarri’s entire Seattle-based studio was wiped out. Instruments. Recordings. Archives. Gone without a trace. He arrived on the East Coast to an empty room and the daunting task of starting over.

“This album wasn’t just a record; it was a lifeline,” Irisarri reflects. “It became a way to process the emotional chaos that followed: uprooting, instability, and ultimately, the slow, intuitive rebuilding of a life.”

Composed and recorded in the rural woods of the Hudson Valley, the album took shape in seclusion, surrounded by nature, and through a process guided by improvisation. Embracing limitations, Irisarri wove textural layers of field recordings with half-remembered melodies from his Seattle years, piecing them together like fragments of memory. Tracks like “Displacement,” “Hiatus,” and “Persistence” juxtaposed haunting stillness with restless momentum, mapping an inner terrain of grief, catharsis, and rebirth.

Among its defining sounds is “Empire Systems,” a monumental centerpiece built around a simple four-chord progression, organ textures, and guitar drones. Gradually, the track expands into layers of immersive loops and thick, enveloping distortion that wash over the listener like a rolling wave. Often cited as the album’s most majestic passage, it captures Irisarri at his most sonically ambitious. With a harmonically saturated structure crafted from restraint and repetition, it remains one of his most recognizable compositions: an exercise in the art of maximal minimalism.

From the outset, “Reprisal” received praise from BBC’s Mary Anne Hobbs, who championed the track on her radio show. Her support played a key role in introducing Irisarri’s work to wider audiences and solidifying his place within the lineage of electronic, drone, and experimental sound artists. A slow-burning elegy, the piece emerges from a haze of distortion and sub-bass, with dense, unrelenting drones carrying a sense of mounting tension. Just as it seems to collapse under its own weight, flickers of guitar emerge like distant light through fog. It’s a meditation on dissonance, resolve, and the elusive possibility of release.

The closing track, “Secretly Wishing for Rain,” is steeped in saudade: a longing for Seattle’s dour grey skies, lush green landscapes, and desaturated sunsets. Through it, Irisarri mourns a vanished chapter of life bound to the city, a time documented in scattered mementos and cherished collections, now permanently gone. A reflection on what could never be recovered: an era lost to time. Julia Kent’s looped cello motifs added a melancholic warmth to the track, marking the first collaboration between the two artists and sparking a musical dialogue that would keep growing in the years that followed.

More than a career highlight, A Fragile Geography has laid the foundation for Black Knoll studio, which Irisarri rebuilt from the ground up. The studio has since grown into a creative hub for countless projects, with Irisarri engineering records for iconic music figures like Terry Riley, Ryuichi Sakamoto, William Basinski, MONO, Devendra Banhart, Grouper, Emeralds, Steve Hauschildt, Julianna Barwick, and many others. Carried by its lasting influence, the album has quietly captured the ear of a younger generation, its sound and emotional arc finding new listeners in unexpected corners.

The album’s new visual language was reimagined in collaboration with Mexico City–based designer Daniel Castrejón. Irisarri captured ghostly images at Gaztelugatxeko Doniene, a historic coastal site in Bermeo, Euskal Herria. Castrejón then treated the photographs with distressed textures and spectral overlays. The final artwork channels the rugged, elemental forces that shaped both the music and Irisarri’s aesthetic, renewing his ties to ancestral ground inspired by the Basque homeland of his bloodline.

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu with exceptional attention to detail, this anniversary edition uncovers every nuance in the sound design, enhancing clarity and presence. With each listen, new elements emerge, inviting discovery and reconnection.

“I don’t experience this album as a document of grief anymore,” says Irisarri. “I hear adaptation and I'm reminded that when everything falls apart, something meaningful, maybe even beautiful, can emerge.”

Off The Record (faitiche 39), the new album by French collagist Roméo Poirier, is an amusing romp through the discarded history of recording studios. It contains fourteen miniatures based on accidental recordings of studio talk, revealing things that were never meant for the public: we hear instructions from studio staff, scraps of talk between musicians, or just microphones being adjusted, as well as false notes, false starts: everyone stops. Start again: 1, 2, 3, 4!

Poirier’s approach recalls Accumulation, an artform practiced by Arman, Jean Tinguely and Daniel Spoerri that involved piling up everyday items into assemblages. The objects themselves often remained unaltered, the artistic gesture consisting in the careful curating of a distinctive selection. Poirier’s audio collages explore similar terrain. The fourteen pieces on Off the Record combine more than a thousand found sounds from studio archives into complex miniatures. The audio content of these outtakes is twisted, stretched, cut, reassembled, slowed down and accelerated. Voices cut into a microgroove, from a very old recording, intertwine with digital voices gleaned from YouTube. All of them in dialogue, engaging the listener with the impression of being part of a new music group.

Poirier uses the mundane routine of setting up before the actual recording gets underway to tell a universal story about working in a recording studio. And he manages something few achieve, transforming specialist knowledge into a narrative whose beauty goes far beyond its immediate subject. It speaks to everyone, because the story is told in a musical language that is open and accessible, evoking magical images reminiscent of Oz – a world consisting less of events than of camp hallucinations, captured in grainy black-and-white photographs. En passant, Poirier shows us how the notion of material accumulation can produce great art.

Written and produced by Roméo Poirier, mastered by Stephan Mathieu, photos by Roméo Poirier, graphic design by Tim Tetzner.

»Chitin« captures Berlin-based duo Narval (Peter Strickmann and Evgenija Wassilew) in a series of recordings made during a 2025 residency in the village of Schöppingen, Münsterland. Known for their use of everyday objects, self-built wind and percussion instruments, feedback systems, and small-scale electronics, Narval treat the performance space itself as a collaborator. In Schöppingen, this meant farmhouses, a parish church, a sculptor’s studio, and surrounding cornfields — each site imprinting its acoustics and atmosphere onto the performances. The result is a set of recordings where birds, insects, and ambient traces of rural life seep into the music, blurring the boundary between intentional gesture and environmental chance.

The title refers to chitin: the hard-yet-flexible material that forms insect shells, fungal walls, and crustacean exoskeletons. Like tape or rural matter, it is at once protective and permeable, tactile and intimate — qualities mirrored in the album’s sound world. By working with a deliberately limited palette of tools, Narval allow small sonic details to accumulate into shifting durations, giving each piece the strange, layered texture of surfaces both organic and mechanical. Chitin offers a portrait of site-specific listening where the line between instrument and environment continually dissolves.

Peter Strickmann – objects, smartphone, ceramophone, cornfield, iron bar Evgenija Wassilew – AM radio, prepared Stylophone, feedback, smartphone, Bastl Kastle, iron bar Recorded by Peter Strickmann and Evgenija Wassilew Mastered by Jacob Calland

Gars Records proudly presents the first release in our "Gars of Gars" series, celebrating classic Detroit and modern techno with a fresh, boundary-pushing approach. This dynamic compilation features breakthrough artists BENZA, Mython, and James Harbrecht, alongside rising talent Deranged. Local Lithuanian producers y2kati and Phaseline join forces with international heavyweights like Bondarük, delivering a truly global sound. A bold yet respectful nod to techno’s roots, "Gars of Gars" is set to make waves and stand the test of time. And last but not least, the entire release was mastered by the almighty Joe Farr, bringing over 25 years of industry expertise to the sound.

South London singer, songwriter and cultural powerhouse Joy Crookes has today unveiled the news that her worth-the-wait second album Juniper will be released on September 26th ahead of a full UK & EU headline tour.

A stunningly candid and fearless body of work, the album reaffirms Joy as one of the UK’s most vital and original voices. A once-in-a-generation talent, Crookes delivers a record that is both emotionally raw and sonically rich; humorous, heartbreaking and profoundly human.

Following the success of her 2021 debut Skin, which earned BRIT and Mercury Prize nominations, went Top 5 in the UK charts, and drew acclaim from The Guardian, NME and many more, Joy set out to make an album that pushed her further both musically and personally.

Juniper is the result: a project defined by its depth and dynamism.

Written with a stripped-back approach and produced by long-time collaborators including Blue May (Kano, Jorja Smith), Tev’n (Stormzy) and Harvey Grant (Arlo Parks),

Juniper features standout guest appearances from Vince Staples on the incendiary ‘Pass The Salt’ and Kano on the bittersweet confessional ‘Mathematics’.

Crookes describes the record as “more nuanced” than Skin: “With Juniper, every situation is visceral and I’m very much in it. It’s me in the centre of it all.”

The title itself nods to resilience (an evergreen that thrives in harsh conditions) and the album dives deep into themes of body politics, mental health, queer love, anxiety, industry hypocrisy and the ecstasy (and terror) of falling in love.
Lead singles like ‘Pass The Salt’ and ‘I Know You’d Kill’ showcase Crookes’ lyrical agility – blending poetic detail with razor-sharp wit. Meanwhile, the euro-pop inspired ‘First Last Dance’ channels euphoric melodies to mask deep emotional struggle, and the cinematic ‘Perfect Crime’ sees Joy fully self-actualise in the style of a Western showdown.

On ‘Paris’, the closing track, Joy reflects on a formative queer relationship: “Something I feared so much finally, actually felt like love.” It’s a sentiment echoed across Juniper – a record that captures the beauty and brutality of emotional openness.

The album arrives after a period of personal upheaval for Crookes, including a mental health crisis that shadowed the album’s creation. “I was in the trenches,” she says. “But the studio became my solace. What you hear is live and direct from that time.” Despite the darkness, Juniper radiates warmth, levity, and life, powered by Crookes’ ever-restless creativity and artistic excellence. Ahead of her performance this weekend at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend event in Liverpool, followed by a slot at Glastonbury, Joy is pleased to announce a full UK & EU headline tour for the backend of the year.

In celebration of Juniper's release, Joy will head out to all major cities including Dublin, Manchester, Bristol and London where she’ll play the much coveted 02 Academy Brixton for the first time. See below for full routing and ticket info.

Frank Zappas episches Album „One Size Fits All“ aus dem Jahr 1975 feiert sein 50-jähriges Jubiläum
mit einem weiteren vollgepackten Multi-Disc-Box-Set mit 75 % unveröffentlichtem Material. Die Box enthält vier CDs mit dem 2012 von der Legende Bob Ludwig neu gemasterten Hauptalbum sowie anderthalb
Discs mit Studio-Outtakes, Live-Konzerten, Work-Mixes und relevanten Vault-Tracks. Die Live-Besetzung
bestand aus der klassischen 6-köpfigen Band mit George Duke und Ruth Underwood.Ruth Underwood
steuerte auch neue Linernotes für das Paket bei, zusammen mit historischen Essays von David Fricke und
„Vaultmeister“ Joe Travers. Das Booklet zum 50. Jahrestag enthält außerdem neu veröffentlichte Fotos
von Sam Emerson.
Die Blu-Ray Disc enthält brandneue Dolby Atmos- und 5.1-Mischungen direkt von den 24-Spur-Masterbändern
des Albums, Hi-Res-Versionen des Hauptalbums und zwei Bonus-Surround-Tracks mit alten Mixes von
Zappa selbst. Außerdem sind zwei Bonusvideos von den klassischen KCET-TV-Dreharbeiten enthalten, die
zum ersten Mal neu bearbeitet wurden, seit FZ 1974 das Material in die Hände bekam.
Die 2LP „black glitter“ Jubiläumsedition enthält einen brandneuen analogen Schnitt des Albums, eine
Bonus-LP mit den Highlights des Box-Sets und das Booklet der 50th Anniversary Edition.

GAISTER (Olivia Salvadori, Akihide Monna and Coby Sey) release their self-titled LP.

The record captures the embodiment of an encounter, one moment of the trio’s ongoing relationship as artists who communicate with each other through sound, voice and music.
After orbiting in the same circles at each other's shows around 2016 in London, Sey and Salvadori eventually crossed paths. In 2017 Sey joined Salvadori’s artistic collective Tutto Questo Sentire on a residency in Capalbio, the southernmost part of Tuscany, Italy, and started working together. Down the line the pair ended up joining with Akihide Monna (of Bo Ningen), performing together in 2019 at Camden Art Centre on Cork Street in London.

When the trio come together something new is created, brought out after laying dormant, like an Icelandic Geysir. The setting of this particular encounter amongst the trio is essential in the album’s sonic palette, process and emotion. The album was recorded in Iceland at
Greenhouse Studios, where the trio formalised a set of intuitions; how nature can provide a guideline in the choices of the instruments, their materials and related rhythms; reflections on the voice as a sculptural element, pure sound and words.

As Akihide has said of the experience during their short and intense recording period: “The sound spontaneously spun out as if we were pulling at each other's hearts and minds with a strange internal connection and sensation. Something pure was brought out.”

‘Gaister’ itself is a made up word, sprung from the German ‘Geist’ to mean ‘spirit’, and made into a sound of its own. A purity, spirit and essence is pulled from the trio, in spite of their varying mother tongues (Italian, Japanese and English), musical genres and identities to create something new. Olivia Salvadori’s operatic vocals run free, flowing and moving in
synergy with Monna’s rhythmic drumming. Sey sings freely with Salvadori, their voices braided together like a waterfall.

This flowing nature is reflected in the album itself, its timestamps and scores are marked by encounters rather than tracks themselves. This album can be considered as one constant piece and a journey of its own that is not foreclosed, in keeping with the band’s ethos of
constant conversation and collaboration.
As Sey speaks of the trio’s relationship: “Olivia, Monchan and I had performed live together once before, several years before this song and this album came to be… and yet, we fully trust each other’s intuition when performing and creating music together because of our unified belief in the ability of sound and music to communicate and connect.”
credits
releases November 1, 2024

Olivia Salvadori: voice
Akihide Monna: voice, drums, percussions
Coby Sey: voice, percussions, synths, wurlitzer

Recorded at Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavik, Iceland

Recorded and producer: Sandro Mussida
Sound engineer: Francesco Fabris
Studio assistant: Domiziano Maselli and Jakob Vasak

Mixing engineer: Kristian Craig Robinson at Total Refreshment Centre, London, UK

Strut presents Mulatu Plays Mulatu, the first major studio album in over 10 years from the father of Ethio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke. Featuring masterful new arrangements of some of his classic compositions, Mulatu Plays Mulatu finds Mulatu revisiting the sounds that helped to change the face of Ethiopian music during the late "60s and early "70s. The album was recorded between London and Addis Ababa, working with his long-standing UK band, a tight, intuitive ensemble honed through years of live performance, alongside cultural musicians resident at his Jazz Village club in Addis. Mulatu Plays Mulatu realises Mulatu"s long-term vision of Ethio-jazz, intricately balancing Western jazz arrangements with the rich sounds of traditional Ethiopian instruments including the krar, masenqo, washint, kebero and begena. Throughout the album, he reshapes familiar material with rich textures, expanded improvisations and a deepened rhythmic complexity, creating a body of work that feels as vital and contemporary as it does steeped in tradition. Familiar compositions like "Yekermo Sew", "Netsanet" and the celebratory "Kulun" are reinvented here as elegant big band performances. Bridging continents and generations throughout his 50-year career, Astatke now offers us an invitation to hear his music again, with a completely fresh perspective. Ethio-jazz, like its creator, is always in motion.

First time reissue of this French cold-wave / minimal-synth treasure.



November 1981 – In the heart of autumn, we set off in two cars along the Nationale 1 (!) to reach Choisy-le-Roi, where a 16-track studio was waiting for us—a place where, over the course of a weekend, we would finally be able to carve our own grooves into vinyl. We were quite nervous, as Guerre Froide had already been around for a year and a half. Our elders in Kas Product had already released two EPs—one with four tracks, the other with three—in 1980, even though they’d started only a few months before us. Admittedly, there wasn’t really a sense of urgency—some of us came from the punk movement, where the prevailing mood was still very much No Future, even if we’d long since stopped believing in it... And yet others had truly lost everything, like those from the generation before us. The reasons, ironically, were often the same: heroin and/or love—hard drugs, in both cases.

Speaking of which, I had a terrible stomach ache—due to nerves or some form of tension—which forced us to make a pit stop in the Oise region so I could rush to the toilet of a local café. That same stomach discomfort would hit me again once we arrived at the studio—whose name, incidentally, I’ve since forgotten...

We had gotten there thanks to the generous initiative of a friend, Sylvain S., known as “Perlin” (what a phonetic coincidence!?), who had specifically created the Stechak Products label to produce our record. Stechak because it was consistent with his earlier association called Tchernoziom, and Products as a plural tribute to the trailblazers from Nancy.

Guerre Froide originally consisted of four members: Fabrice Fruchart on guitar-synth (Korg MS-20), Patrick Mallet on bass, and Gilbert Deffais, known as “Bébert”, on Korg drum machine. At the time, I was already singing in a rock/post-punk band called Stress, and that’s how Guerre Froide picked up the bad habit of rehearsing in the same basement in Amiens as Stress. Within a month or two, we had half a dozen songs. We then had the opportunity to record a 4-track demo with a friend from Radio France Picardie, and to perform in October at a festival held at the Amiens municipal circus. Then came the now-legendary concert on November 11 at B.J.’s Club. After that, we self-produced and released 50 completely DIY copies of a cassette titled Cicatrice. A few concerts later—after Jean-Michel Bailleux had joined us on bass and Patrick had switched to guitar, which felt more natural to him—and with more concrete plans starting to take shape, we had to find a new rehearsal space and start renting a room.

Then came the moment when Fabrice told us he was leaving to go study in Lille... After the June 19, 1981 concert, which was naturally dubbed “Farewell to 2F,” Marie-José, Bébert’s wife, offered to take over on synth.

That’s when Perlin, who was a close friend of the Deffais couple and a great fan of our music, offered to fully finance the production of a 4-track 12-inch EP—covering the studio time, mastering, pressing, and artwork. What up-and-coming band would have turned that down? An improvised contract was signed with each member of Guerre Froide. The first step was choosing which four songs we would record. Berlin 81 was an obvious pick, having already become the group’s flagship track. We wanted to avoid reusing songs from Cicatrice, so the focus shifted to new material—some written before, some after Fabrice’s departure. Ersatz, for example, was his composition, but Mauve and Peine Perdue, which were also selected, were both written by Patrick.

GG Allin singles compilation reissued on vinyl. If you had an immense amount of courage (as well as a strong stomach), then you may have been 'lucky' to have experienced G.G. Allin the way he was meant to be -- on-stage. In the studio, G.G.'s recordings more times than not did not match the fire of his live performance (and after watching some of his brutal shows on video, how could they'), as they were issued on a variety of little-known indie labels, and of varying quality. One of the first compilations to truly pull tracks from throughout G.G.'s controversial career is 2004's Expose Yourself: The Singles Collection 1977-1991. A few selections have been impossible to find for years, such as the early G.G. single "Love Tunnel" b/w "Devil's Triangle," which makes its first appearance in years here. Elsewhere, you'll find tracks that have appeared elsewhere -- "Snakeman's Dance," "When I Die," "Gypsy Motherfucker," etc. -- but are among G.G.'s best. Since it touches upon most of his different eras, Expose Yourself: The Singles Collection 1977-1991 is easily one of the better G.G. comps to appear. ~ Greg Prato

GG Allin singles compilation reissued on vinyl. If you had an immense amount of courage (as well as a strong stomach), then you may have been 'lucky' to have experienced G.G. Allin the way he was meant to be -- on-stage. In the studio, G.G.'s recordings more times than not did not match the fire of his live performance (and after watching some of his brutal shows on video, how could they'), as they were issued on a variety of little-known indie labels, and of varying quality. One of the first compilations to truly pull tracks from throughout G.G.'s controversial career is 2004's Expose Yourself: The Singles Collection 1977-1991. A few selections have been impossible to find for years, such as the early G.G. single "Love Tunnel" b/w "Devil's Triangle," which makes its first appearance in years here. Elsewhere, you'll find tracks that have appeared elsewhere -- "Snakeman's Dance," "When I Die," "Gypsy Motherfucker," etc. -- but are among G.G.'s best. Since it touches upon most of his different eras, Expose Yourself: The Singles Collection 1977-1991 is easily one of the better G.G. comps to appear. ~ Greg Prato

Giggs und XL Recordings kündigen zum 15-jährigen Jubiläum eine Neuauflage seines einflussreichen zweiten Albums Let Em Ave It an - erstmals auf Vinyl erhältlich. Das ursprünglich am 21. Juni 2010 veröffentlichte Album markierte Giggs" großen Durchbruch und gilt als wegweisend für die britische Rap-Szene. Mit seinem tiefen Flow, roher Ehrlichkeit und Tracks wie "Look What the Cat Dragged In", "Hustle On" und ""Matic" setzte Giggs neue Maßstäbe für UK-Rap. Kritiker lobten das Werk als realitätsnah und stilprägend. Seitdem entwickelte sich Giggs zu einer Schlüsselfigur der britischen Musik mit erfolgreichen Folgealben wie Landlord, Wamp 2 Dem und Zero Tolerance, sowie Kollaborationen mit Stars wie Drake, Stormzy und Ed Sheeran. Die Jubiläumsausgabe von Let Em Ave It erscheint als Deluxe-Doppelvinyl mit dem originalen Coverdesign, wahlweise auf gelbem oder schwarzem Vinyl. Zusätzlich enthält sie eine Bonusplatte mit Klassikern der Ära, darunter "Don"t Go There" (mit B.o.B), "Slow Songs" (mit Mike Skinner), "Blow Em Away" (mit Shola Ama) und der Kulttrack "Talkin The Hardest". Vorbestellungen sind ab sofort möglich.

Forgetting is Violent is the most powerful release to date from Los Angeles saxophonist and composer Patrick Shiroishi (The Armed, Wild Up), with timely suites that meditate on racism and addiction. The music developed in part through extensive solo touring opening for Emma Ruth Rundle, in which Shiroishi brought effects pedals to the forefront. For the first time on a solo LP, Shiroishi has brought in collaborators: a who’s who of heavy music, including Aaron Turner (SUMAC), Gemma Thompson (Savages), and Mat Ball (BIG|BRAVE). With liner notes by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hua Hsu, Forgetting is Violent is Shiroishi’s latest masterwork. We recommend snapping this one up while you can, because we expect copies will fly.

If there is one person, who has been causing a stir on the international club circuit recently, it is Barcelona's John Talabot. Already his debut “My Old School“ (which is meant literally by the way) on Permanent Vacation in 2009 and shortly after that the single “ Sunshine”, which he put out on his own Hivern Disc imprint, made him one of the most promising musicians of the Spanish electronic scene. And those two releases also already set the mark for John Talabot’s unparalleled music: raw, loopy, heavy on the kick drum, sample based, moderate on the tempo, distorted on the drums and light years away from the clean and ever revolving house sound of today. This unique style which also blends influences from afro beat, Detroit techno, Chicago house and cosmic disco, but also northern soul or the energy of Flamenco, immediately turned some heads around. James Murphy, Âme and Aeroplane started including Talabot music in their sets like it was the most natural thing. However - and this is quite rare - he not only gained legions of fans in the house and disco community, but also amongst the leftfield pop and indie rock followers. NME and Resident Advisor both had “Breakthrough“ features on John Talabot and he can be proud of a “Best New Music“ dubbing on
Pitchfork. (Being rather elusive on showing his face in magazines or the web it also came to some funny rumors that John Talabot was the alter ego of a well-known techno producer from Detroit).
At the same time he drew the attention of like-minded artists like James Holden and Luke Abott from Border Community, Blondes or Delorean, which lead to a bunch of fertile collaborations: Luke Abbott and Blondes remixed Talabot’s “Sunshine“ single , John Talabot remixed a track by Delorean and vice versa Delorean’s Ekhi contributed vocals to the track “Journeys “ on John’s album). Another example is the Young Turks Label (home of Jamie XX, Holy Fuck, El Guincho or SBTRKT ) on which he released the “Families“ EP in 2010. It was praised beyond limits. Pitchfork for
instance hailed: “… where pop and house influences sweetly buffer up against one another to provide an unyielding sense of elation“ and even brought Talabot a comparison with artists like Four Tet or Caribou.
While staying true to his sound, John Talabot has nevertheless shown a constant evolution as a producer since his first release. He has traced a solid musical path that has turned him into one of the big references of European House and has made him also a highly in demand Remixer (for the likes of The XX, Francesco Tristano’s “Aufgang” project, Shit Robot on DFA, Thaiti 80, Joakim or Teengirl Fantasy to name just a few ).
A progression that now crystallizes in “ƒin”, his first full-length album for Permanent Vacation. A record, in which the Barcelona mastermind sets aside the danceable immediacy to expand his stylistic palette more than ever. For that purpose, Talabot melts all the elements that have constructed his distinctive sound until now and makes them emerge from a new perspective, in which the construction of complex song structures, intricate rhythms and superpositions of ever-evolving melodies and atmospheres pick up the baton of the “a kick-drum and a sampler” philosophy of his initial productions. The result brings us 11 tracks (we should call them songs really!) dominated by dark ambiances, gaseous textures and bittersweet moods that, above all, reveal a kind of vivacity that’s really hard to find in contemporary electronics. “Fin” is far from being a track collection. From the majestic opener “Depak Ine“ to it’s solemn ending with
“So Will Be Now“ , one of the two tracks that features Talabot’s soul and label mate Pional, each song traces an overall dialogue with the rest, culminating a highly emotional journey through Talabot’s always compelling and unique musical vision.

Can a self-portrait be a collage? Can empathy be autobiographical? What's the point of living if we're not trying to understand all the horror and humor that surrounds everything? These are a few of the questions lurking under the bleachers of Wednesday's new album Bleeds, an intoxicating collection of narrative-heavy Southern rock that_like many of the most arresting passages from the North Carolina band's highlight reel so far_thoughtfully explores the vivid link between curiosity and confession. Bleeds is not only the best Wednesday record_it's also the most Wednesday record, a patchwork-style triumph of literary allusions and outlaw grit, of place-based poetry and hair-raising noise. Karly Hartzman_founder, frontwoman, and primary lyricist_credits Wednesday's tightened grasp on their own identity to time spent collaborating on previous albums, plus a tour schedule that's been both rewarding and relentless. "Bleeds is the spiritual successor to Rat Saw God, and I think the quintessential `Wednesday Creek Rock' album," Hartzman said, articulating satisfaction with the ways her band has sharpened its trademark sound, how they've refined the formula that makes them one of the most interesting rock bands of their generation. "This is what Wednesday songs are supposed to sound like," she said. "We've devoted a lot of our lives to figuring this out_and I feel like we did." Just like Rat Saw God, one of the defining rock & roll records of the 2020s so far, Bleeds came together at Drop of Sun in Asheville and was produced by Alex Farrar, who's been recording the band since Twin Plagues. Hartzman again brought demos to the studio, where she and her bandmates _X andy Chelmis (lap steel, pedal steel), Alan Miller (drums), Ethan Baechtold (bass, piano), and Jake "M.J." Lenderman (guitar) _ worked as a team to bulk-up the compositions with the exact right amounts of country truth-telling, indie-pop hooks, and noisy sludge. More than ever, the precise proportions were steered by the lyricism_not only its tone or subject matter, but also the actual sound of the words, as well as Hartzman's masterfully subjective approach to detail selection. Every image or scene is filtered through Hartzman's agile, writerly brain. The particulars deemed essential all contain revelations about Hartzman's specific obsessions and vulnerabilities, about the fragmented way she processes the world. Maybe sometimes the best way to locate truth or pain or dignity within your own life story, Bleeds suggests, is by crawling into someone else's.

Can a self-portrait be a collage? Can empathy be autobiographical? What's the point of living if we're not trying to understand all the horror and humor that surrounds everything? These are a few of the questions lurking under the bleachers of Wednesday's new album Bleeds, an intoxicating collection of narrative-heavy Southern rock that_like many of the most arresting passages from the North Carolina band's highlight reel so far_thoughtfully explores the vivid link between curiosity and confession. Bleeds is not only the best Wednesday record_it's also the most Wednesday record, a patchwork-style triumph of literary allusions and outlaw grit, of place-based poetry and hair-raising noise. Karly Hartzman_founder, frontwoman, and primary lyricist_credits Wednesday's tightened grasp on their own identity to time spent collaborating on previous albums, plus a tour schedule that's been both rewarding and relentless. "Bleeds is the spiritual successor to Rat Saw God, and I think the quintessential `Wednesday Creek Rock' album," Hartzman said, articulating satisfaction with the ways her band has sharpened its trademark sound, how they've refined the formula that makes them one of the most interesting rock bands of their generation. "This is what Wednesday songs are supposed to sound like," she said. "We've devoted a lot of our lives to figuring this out_and I feel like we did." Just like Rat Saw God, one of the defining rock & roll records of the 2020s so far, Bleeds came together at Drop of Sun in Asheville and was produced by Alex Farrar, who's been recording the band since Twin Plagues. Hartzman again brought demos to the studio, where she and her bandmates _X andy Chelmis (lap steel, pedal steel), Alan Miller (drums), Ethan Baechtold (bass, piano), and Jake "M.J." Lenderman (guitar) _ worked as a team to bulk-up the compositions with the exact right amounts of country truth-telling, indie-pop hooks, and noisy sludge. More than ever, the precise proportions were steered by the lyricism_not only its tone or subject matter, but also the actual sound of the words, as well as Hartzman's masterfully subjective approach to detail selection. Every image or scene is filtered through Hartzman's agile, writerly brain. The particulars deemed essential all contain revelations about Hartzman's specific obsessions and vulnerabilities, about the fragmented way she processes the world. Maybe sometimes the best way to locate truth or pain or dignity within your own life story, Bleeds suggests, is by crawling into someone else's.

Will Johnson und die verbleibenden Mitglieder der beliebten Band Magnolia Electric Co. haben sich für neue Aufnahmen als Magnolia & Johnson Electric Co. zusammengetan. Im September werden Magnolia & Johnson Electric Co. ihrem verstorbenen Kollegen Jason Molina Tribut zollen und vom 18. bis 21. September 2025 vier Konzerte in Texas geben. Will Johnson ist der texanische Songwriter von Centro-matic, South San Gabriel und derzeitiges Mitglied der 400 Unit mit Jason Isbell. Johnson veröffentlichte im April 2025 sein zehntes Soloalbum "Diamond City" und war Teil des 2009 erschienenen Gemeinschaftsalbums "Molina and Johnson", für das eine Tournee aufgrund von Molinas Alkoholproblemen abgesagt werden musste. Die vier Konzerte folgen den ausgetretenen Pfaden von Molina und Magnolia während ihrer sieben Jahre als Magnolia Electric Co. und markieren den 20. Jahrestag einer Texas-Tournee, die 2005 zur Unterstützung der Alben "What Comes After the Blues" und "Trials and Errors" stattfand. Magnolia & Johnson Electric Co. (mit Will Johnson und Mike Brenner, Jason Evans Groth, Michael Kapinus, Mark Rice und Pete Schreiner) trafen sich Anfang des Jahres in Texas, um neue Studioversionen der Songs von Molina und Johnson aufzunehmen, angelehnt an die 2018er Zusammenarbeit "Goshen Electric Company" von Magnolia und Oaks erinnern. Die Sessions wurden von Johnsons langjährigem Kollegen Britton Beisenherz aufgenommen und gemischt und von Magnolia-Mastering-Ingenieur Matthew Barnhart gemastert. Das Cover ziert ein ikonisches Artwork von Will Schaff, dessen Kunstwerke mittlerweile untrennbar mit Jason Molinas Songwriting verbunden sind.

Als Sarah McLachlan vor mehr als drei Jahrzehnten zu einem globalen Phänomen wurde, brachte die
kanadische Sängerin und Songwriterin eine noch nie dagewesene neue Stimme in den Pop-Kanon ein:
gefühlvoll, fesselnd und in höchstem Maße fähig, Schmerz in Transzendenz zu verwandeln. Auf ihrem
ersten Album mit neuem Material seit 11 Jahren erweitert die dreifache Grammy-Preisträgerin ihr Vermächtnis mit einer Auswahl von Songs, die eine kompromisslose, aber radikal erhellende Wahrheit über
den Zustand der menschlichen Existenz vermitteln. Der jüngste Triumph in einer Karriere mit zahllosen
Meilensteinen - darunter 12 JUNO Awards, über 40 Millionen verkaufte Alben weltweit und große kulturelle Errungenschaften wie die Gründung der bahnbrechenden Lilith Fair - bestätigt ”Better Broken”
McLachlans’ Standing als unvergleichliche Künstlerin, deren nuancierte Perspektive und uneingeschränktes
Einfühlungsvermögen wichtiger sind denn je.
Ein paar Worte von Sarah:
”Viele der Texte auf dieser Platte entstanden aus dem Nachdenken über die Welt im Moment und der
Frage: ’Wie bewegen wir uns durch diese Landschaft? Wie können wir uns über Wasser halten, wenn wir
das Gefühl haben, dass so viel zusammenbricht?’. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich darauf eine Antwort habe, aber
all diese Angst und Unsicherheit in die Musik zu kanalisieren, war so kathartisch. Ich hoffe, dass diese
Platte den Leuten etwas Erleichterung und Befreiung verschafft - aber letztendlich möchte ich nur, dass
sie daraus nehmen, was s

Quiet Village collaborate with Vanessa Daou on 'Naked Hunger’ Legendary New York artist and The Daou front-woman Vanessa Daou lends vocals to Matt 'Radio Slave' Edwards and Joel Martin's second release on the ‘The Quiet Village’ imprint.

Matt ‘Radio Slave' Edwards and Joel Martin's critically acclaimed Quiet Village project follow-up, 2024's 'Reunion' with the Vanessa Daou collaboration, 'Naked Hunger' on September 5th, '25. 'Naked Hunger', which comes in 'Vocal Mix' and 'Spoken Word Mix' versions, sees Quiet Village employ their hypnotic sensibilities to one of house music's most tantalising vocal talents in Daou, resulting in a mid-tempo house cut that completely envelops.

While the vocal mix of 'Naked Hunger' leans into the interplay between Vanessa Daou's cosseting song voice and spoken vocals, with the rest of the track embracing a subtly dubby ethereal musicality, Quiet Village ramp up the instrumentation on the' Spoken Vocal' version with bass guitar and piano flourishes accompanying her sultry poetic delivery.

'Naked Hunger', Daou's first collaboration with Quiet Village, marks her first release since 2019's 'Little Black Dress'. Throughout her illustrious career, the acclaimed three-time #1 Billboard Dance Chart topper has collaborated with Danny Tenaglia, David Morales, Mood II Swing, Ralphi Rosario, Terry Farley (Farley & Heller), Charles Webster, Horse Meat Disco's Severino Panzetta, Hifi Sean, and Eli Escobar.

Friends since meeting at Goldie's legendary MetalHeadz sessions at London's Blue Note in the '90s, Quiet Village, aka Matt Edwards and Joel Martin, began releasing their brand of dubbed-out, balearic-and-beyond tracks in 2005 via NYC's Whatever We Want Records. The duo's 2008 'Silent Movie' LP was a critical smash hit that resulted in remix commissions for the likes of Bryan Ferry, The Gorillas, Leftfi eld, Francois K, Massive Attack and many more. After a few years in the wilderness, unable to use their nom de plume due to contractual restrictions, the pair launched The Quiet Village label in 2024 with 'Reunion', a stunning 6/8-time urban jazz odyssey, a favourite of the likes of Luke Una, Gilles Peterson and Ryan Elliott.

Composed, Arranged, and Conducted by: Norio Maeda

Has there ever been a soundtrack so thrilling and beautiful? This is the pinnacle of cine-jazz, crafted by the master Norio Maeda.

Released in 1971, Shadow Of The Highway is a suspense-action film produced and starring Jiro Tamiya, and directed by Jun Fukuda.
True to its tagline—“A sports car tearing vertically through Japan, from Kagoshima to Hokkaido”—the film features a Mitsubishi Galant GTO racing
across the country. Often compared to the American New Cinema classic Vanishing Point, it stands as a Japanese road movie gem.

The music was composed by the legendary Norio Maeda. His piano corners with elegance, the vibraphone dashes forward with flair, the bass charges
ahead with power, and the drums shift gears with precision. Motion and stillness, obsession and desire, joy and sorrow—thrilling performances and
beautiful melodies elevate the film to new heights.

As a soundtrack, it is exceptional. But even more, it represents an extraordinary level of quality for Japanese jazz in 1971. The performances are so
remarkable that it’s unfortunate the exact personnel remain unidentified. However, it has long been rumored that the musicians may have been associated
with Takeshi Inomata’s Sound Limited—or possibly The Third.

Text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUNDS / DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

Released by Hegoa Records and Night School Records.
Greatest Heads is the fourth album by the radical Basque- Berlinesque group Al Karpenter. A deconstruction of structured “rock” music, here Al Karpenter re-imagine “the band” to explore the intersection between Free music, afro-beat, the avant garde and gonzo rock.
If Theodore Adorno wrote “To Write Poetry after Auschwitz is Barbaric” in 1949, Al Karpenter attempts to answer the difficult question today; what kind of music can be done in the face of a genocide? Álvaro Matilla, Marta Sainz, Enrique Zaccagnini & Mattin’s response to the planet’s slipping into a vortex of hate is to create a music ecstatic, a music of protest bursting with multiple musical languages and glossaries, full of overlapping histories and thrilling tensions.
Greatest Heads posits a plurality of musics both in opposition and intertwined: Al Karpenter play rock instruments pulled apart in the studio in post-production. Distorted rhythm chunks bit-crushed and dissipated, segments of freedom oppressed by waves of sound invading from every direction. The interplay between the chief instrumentalists and renowned, storied sound artist Mattin creates something akin to ESP freedom-seekers Cro Magnon playing in Miles Davis’ early 70s groups, The Los Angeles Free Music Society tightening up into a clenched fist of plunderphonics and runaway percussion.
We Are All Karpenters opens Greatest Heads with the most straight-forward song refrain of the record accompanied by a band that soon crash into eruption, imagining Sun City Girls in full free rock mode.
The modulating synth sound soon sucks the band into its wake to create a spine-chilling climax of distorted sound, made fully orgasmic with mastering engineer Rashad Becker’s attention to detail. On Izugarrizko Buruak (Greatest Heads), Matilla intones in Basque over a mangled distorto-beat. A Brand New Astraphobia creates a black space for a heavily processed guitar to blow up before falling to earth at night, a gentle figure serenading the coming end.
On Side B, the band begins by being masticated by a brutal phaser, squelching and stretching the music into new territories. The overt message of Stop The Genocide! is besieged by violence before Worm City aggressively samples the ghosts of soul music, mixing in noise bursts, prepared piano and swiping, abstracted sound. Epic closer Perfect Love feels like a beat poetry performance on a burnt world, still grasping for community, for home, for some sort of human love. A Mad love, then; an angry love fuelled by solidarity and collaboration.
The band’s cascading layers of references and polyglottal musics attempt to create the perfect lover, alive with rage and disorientating ecstasy: Al Karpenter.

*Long overdue reissue of the first album by The Hanging Stars to coincide with their tour support slot with Edwyn Collins – initial 300 copies come with 12 x 12 print*

“In late-Sixties California, the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers combined traditional country music with hippy rock to great success. The influence lingered and whatever cultural relevance it has this is a delightful, transporting listen” – The Times 4/5

London-based psych-folk outfit The Hanging Stars re-release their much-loved debut album Over the Silvery Lake on Crimson Crow. Blending folk pastoralism with swampy 60s Americana, they sound like the missing link between the California desert sun and the grey skies of London Town. The album was recorded between LA, Nashville and Walthamstow, with each of these vastly different places leaving an indelible mark on the songs.

Now signed to the Loose Records label and fronted by London-based songwriter, singer and guitarist Richard Olson (The See See, Eighteenth Day of May), The Hanging Stars are essentially a loose collective of people who weave together a blissed-out psychedelic tapestry. The rest of the core band is made up of Sam Ferman on bass and Paulie Cobra on drums, Horse on pedal steel and Patrick Ralla on banjo, guitar. They jam rather than write and hang out rather than rehearse, harnessing a kind of tipsy euphoria resplendent with luscious arrangements and glorious vocal harmonies.

During 2015, prior to this album’s original release the band released two critically acclaimed singles via The Great Pop Supplement (both of which also appear on the album). “Golden Vanity” was premiered by The Line of Best Fit who said; “you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd just unearthed a rare deep cut from the late 60s/early 70s boom of psychedelia infused Americana” and “The House on The Hill” was described by The Guardian as; "a hazy, desert-dream of a song, nicely sharpened with steely-eyed guitars, Mersey-laced harmonies and just a whiff of the Gun Club”.

There are a number of allusions to nature and the weather on the album, borne in part out of the contrasting surroundings in which it was produced. The band’s fascination with Americana led them to record some of the material Stateside, laying down some of the parts at Battle Tapes Studios in Nashville (Lambchop, Paperhead), as well as at Vision Quest Studios in Los Angeles with Rob Campanella. His work with The Quarter After, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Beachwood Sparks The Tyde, and GospelbeacH was a perfect match to capture their sound and they even had San Franciscan legend Chrystof Certik step in on lead guitar for a couple of tracks.

Following the LA recordings, a trip to the Californian desert provided the core notion of what they wanted to produce - a shard of light that they clung on to whilst recording the rest of the album in the significantly more rain-soaked atmosphere of Walthamstow, London, under the watchful eye of Brian O'Shaughnessy at Bark Studios (The Clientele, Comet Gain). As the band explained at the time: “Ultimately we hope you can hear both the sand and the rain in this record.”

The Hanging Stars place themselves firmly as part of a long folk tradition encompassing European and North American influences – as a continuation rather than a pastiche of these styles. This is the sound of a band really coming in to their own, fully formed and in no doubt of their vision. With Over the Silvery Lake they succeeded in producing a record, which has the country, blues and folk traditions at its heart.

Requiescat Record is the new EP by New Brutalism, a minimal rock quartet formed in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1998. The band comprises vocalist Shane Elliott, guitarist/vocalist Matt Hall, bassist/vocalist David Basford, and drummer Carey Balch. The three-track release - "088," "087" and "089," in keeping with their strict numerical naming convention - was recorded in 2021 by the late, great Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, and mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service in 2025. For the band, "less is more" became a guiding principle - channeled through an unwaveringly raw, direct, and honest approach to sound. Out of partly sound, partly aesthetic, mainly a thirst to build, New Brutalism performs on aluminum instruments built by the band members. They chose the material because itE¼s lighter than steel, more consistent than wood, and easy to machine. Above all, itE¼s precise - and thereby, can produce precise music. In 2021, New Brutalism entered Electrical Audio to record Requiescat Record. Named after a Latin term meaning a prayer for the repose of a dead person, Requiescat Record retroactively became a dedication to AlbiniE¼s memory. The band acknowledges that so much of the aesthetic, interests and sounds they admired are a product of his influence and the circle of artists around him. His death instigated a state of urgency. A desire to act became more pressing, to strike more often, and usher in a new era of productivity. Shattered and kinetic, forgedby time and tragedy, with god-given sonicquality, Requiescat Record may acknowledge the dead, but this music feels ever so alive.

Requiescat Record is the new EP by New Brutalism, a minimal rock quartet formed in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1998. The band comprises vocalist Shane Elliott, guitarist/vocalist Matt Hall, bassist/vocalist David Basford, and drummer Carey Balch. The three-track release - "088," "087" and "089," in keeping with their strict numerical naming convention - was recorded in 2021 by the late, great Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, and mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service in 2025. For the band, "less is more" became a guiding principle - channeled through an unwaveringly raw, direct, and honest approach to sound. Out of partly sound, partly aesthetic, mainly a thirst to build, New Brutalism performs on aluminum instruments built by the band members. They chose the material because itE¼s lighter than steel, more consistent than wood, and easy to machine. Above all, itE¼s precise - and thereby, can produce precise music. In 2021, New Brutalism entered Electrical Audio to record Requiescat Record. Named after a Latin term meaning a prayer for the repose of a dead person, Requiescat Record retroactively became a dedication to AlbiniE¼s memory. The band acknowledges that so much of the aesthetic, interests and sounds they admired are a product of his influence and the circle of artists around him. His death instigated a state of urgency. A desire to act became more pressing, to strike more often, and usher in a new era of productivity. Shattered and kinetic, forgedby time and tragedy, with god-given sonicquality, Requiescat Record may acknowledge the dead, but this music feels ever so alive.

"Entweder du machst, was alle machen, besser als alle anderen oder du machst, ganz was anderes..." Was Sergio Leone für den Western war, ist Johnny Indigo für die Rock Musik. Anders, rauher, echt und kompromisslos. Johnny Indigo ist das Soloprojekt von dem Wahlwiener Mathias Kollos, der bereits für viele Künstler hinter den Kulissen und auf verschiedensten Bühnen tätig ist und war. Jetzt hat er den Schritt nach vorne getan und tritt mit seiner Band "The El Dorado Wildfire" mit eigens für Live arrangierten Versionen von seinem Debut Album "American Daydreams" gemeinsam auf. Wie klingt das verschmitzte Grinsen von Terence Hill? Was hört man, wenn Clint Eastwood seine unvergleichliche Miene verzieht? Den eigenständigen Mix aus Alternative Rock, Southern Rock, Country und Blues von Johnny Indigo. Das Album vermischt Roots und Country Elemente mit modernem Rock und Blues. Ästhetisch geprägt von dem Image der Spaghetti Western, ohne in unnötige Cliches zu verfallen. Vergangene Acts wie Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix oder die Rolling Stones werden ebenso nicht vernachlässigt wie moderne Formationen wie Queens Of The Stone Age, The Black Keys oder Rival Sons.

Mutant, in partnership with Warner Records, are proud to present Z Berg’s beautiful and haunting original soundtrack to JT Mollner’s secret masterpiece Strange Darling. The less you know about Strange Darling before you see it, the better (forgive us for tip-toeing around context). But you can safely listen to Z Berg’s exceptional soundtrack safely without spoilers. Director JT Mollner and Z initially bonded over vintage single artist soundtracks as a days-gone tradition of filmmaking. But what they have produced together is evocative of New Hollywood, 70's-exploitation, right down to the soundtrack you want to have in your collection.

Originally out as a free Net-7inch on Jahtari in 2008 to pay respects at the shrine of arcade machine fighting games, these undying hiphop-infused martial arts Dubs by disrupt are finally reaching their intended destination: white blood-splattered 7inch vinyl (attention: not actual blood!).

"Samurai Showdown" (which eventually became Solo Banton's classic "Kung Fu Master", from his Music Addict EP in 2010) is taking place at sunrise, of course, when two master swordsmen are matching blades in a battle to the death. Can the wave-cutting technique of the Jahtari-school prevail?

The B-side is the meditation after the battle, mentally re-creating the epic struggle move by move and in slow motion...
So draw your Katana and prepare for beats as sharp as a battle sword, deadly moves of Ninja swiftness and basslines coming straight from the six paths of hell.

I H8 Camera is the improvisation collective of ‘Master of Ceremonies’ Rudy Trouvé who, for more than 15 years now, has been leading an ever-changing line-up of absolute top-notch musicians through an insane adventure across rock, jazz, folk, krautrock, no wave, post-punk...boundless improvisation starting from a few brief pointers...innovative, contrary, abrasive and often very brilliant.

This double album was recorded during a 5 day residency at the famous club L’Archiduc in Brussels with a killer line up of Rudy Trouvé (Guitar, vocals) Stef Kamil Carlens (Bass, vocals), the late and dearly missed Matt Watts (Vocals), Teun Verbruggen (Drums), Teuk Henri (Guitar) and Jef Mercelis (Korg MS 10). Guest appearances by a.o. Roland Van Campenhout (Guitar) and Catherine Graindorge (Violin).
An intense and adventurous album, super hot CBGB’s vibes in Brussels!

**ON LTD SPLATTER VINYL** First time available on vinyl! With bonus tracks and unreleased material! The Sultans formed in 2000 and were John Reis / Slasher and Tony DiPrima and at times also Andy Stamets / Black Flame (Rocket From The Crypt’s ND) and Dean Reis / Black Velvet (Mannequin Piss, Spider Fever, The Heartaches, Los Dug Dugs). Shipwrecked was the bands second album and was released only on CD in 2004.

It was hailed as a “power-pop meets ’70s punk classic” by Virtual Underground Press and “…a masterpiece of the form...essential” by the Cleveland Call And Post. This reissue is a labor of lust with maximum attention to detail in resurrecting these masters from their deteriorated, analog state. The result is a louder, thicker and even more bristling slab of triumphant rock ’n’ roll. Everything on this reissue cuts deeper and breaks the digital glass into razor sharp shards and then shits on the 1s and 0s. Treble Magazine says. “It is the perfect soundtrack to your post-breakup life: fourteen songs about heartache, shame, trying to move on, regrets and just plain old hate. (And by the by, hate has never sounded as good as this)”. Added to the original are four bonus tracks, one being a cover of The Dils “Blow Up” and another the never released “Out Of Focus”. Shipwrecked was the last record at Drag Racist (Hot Snakes, RFTC, etc) before it shuddered its doors for good.

The album introduced a lush, complex dream world that the singer, composer, and producer created and inhabited largely on her own. She produced all the songs, and wrote and performed everything on the self-released collection outside of a re-imagined cover of Pink Floyd’s “Green is the Colour” and 2 other tracks (“The Time,” “Give It Back To You”), which started as instrumentals written by Survive’s Kyle Dixon (who composed the Stranger Things soundtrack with his bandmate Michael Stein), to which Ainsworth wrote melodies and added lyrics. Ainsworth, who’s relocated to Los Angeles from Toronto since 2017’s Darling of the Afterglow, explains that the collection revealed itself to her “as a play taking place in Mother Nature’s vanishing home,” aka Phantom Forest, and that she’s singing from 3 perspectives: herself, Mother Nature, and Greek Chorus. For instance, of the album’s opener, “Diamonds Cutting Diamonds,” she explains: “The Greek Chorus sets the scene, narrating and offering direction on how to enter Phantom Forest. It’s my hope that the listener will imagine the narration to be directed to them as well, as they begin the journey of the album.” You’ll get a sense of this from the collection’s edenic cover art and the playful, pastoral video for the album’s first single, “Can You Find Her Place.” Its inspiration came from Ainsworth’s love for Italian Renaissance painter Botticelli’s 15-century masterpiece “Primavera,” an allegorical representation of the burgeoning fertility of the earth in spring. She notes: “The video features the Greek gods of the painting in a choreographed Baroque style dance.” Keeping with the personal feel of the collection, her sister Abby Ainsworth directed the clip. In line with the classical and historical depths of Phantom Forest, Ainsworth, who holds a Masters Degree in film scoring composition from NYU and studied composition as an undergrad at McGill, notes that although the album might be considered pop, she approached it as an orchestrator. “Even if I’m dealing purely with synths,” she says, “The songs are like a score, each one an evolving journey. I love to use strings so I’ve included my string arrangements on ‘Tell Me I Exist’ and ‘Can You Find Her Place.’ I recorded live musicians on drums, bass, and guitar on ‘Edge of the Throne,’ ‘The Time,’ and ‘Floating Dream,’ and wove those live elements into my programmed elements.” Phantom Forest is a beautiful, vast collection that mixes the historical and the hands on, with hooks about the apocalypse and people obsessively using face-recognition software to see what paintings their face match with, in search of some kind of connection. It’s a journey that holds up to close listening (and lyric reading) and to dance floors, but that can also exist on a purely emotional plane. In all cases, it asks that you listen, and take some kind of action.

”The Birth of Bop” kann ab heute hier vorbestellt werden und erscheint am 31. März in verschiedenen Formaten, darunter ein Vinyl-Boxset mit fünf 10-Zoll-LPs, ein 2-CD-Format und digitale Editionen. Jeder Titel der Sammlung wurde von Joe Tarantino bei Joe Tarantino Mastering frisch restauriert und neu gemastert, während die physischen Formate neue, ausführliche Liner Notes des GRAMMY-gekrönten Autors und Moderators Neil Tesser sowie alte Fotos aus dieser Zeit enthalten. Es ist eine unverzichtbare Einführung in
diese wichtige Periode der Jazzmusik: The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection enthält 30 ausgewählte Aufnahmen von vielen der Pioniere des Genres, darunter Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Allen Eager, Fats Navarro und viele mehr.
Diese bahnbrechenden Aufnahmen aus den Jahren 1944 bis 1949
trugen maßgeblich zur Entwicklung des modernen Jazz bei und brachten junge Künstler dazu, die Grenzen des Genres in einer Zeit zu erforschen, in der Swingmusik der vorherrschende Sound war und Big Bands den Äther beherrschten.

First time vinyl reissue, expanded and deluxe double gatefold 140g double vinyl, remastered audio with restored artwork and fresh liners written by Paul Hillery (Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours)
Alan James Eastwood's glorious Seeds is a certified folk-funk lost-classic.

But who was Alan James Eastwood? He had never hit the big time and commercial success eluded him. By the mid-1970s, his musical career was pretty much over and he was almost unknown except among deep heads, amongst whom he would gain cult status.

Original copies of the 1971 vinyl release of Seeds exchange hands for high sums, if you can find one. This expanded 2LP contains an extra record, collecting 9 rare non-album singles and is presented in a gatefold sleeve complete with freshly commissioned liner notes courtesy of Paul Hillery (Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours).

With the long overdue deluxe reissue of this prized artefact, we hope to finally shine a light on the unheralded genius of Alan James Eastwood. RIYL Nick Drake, Rodriguez, Richie Havens.

Alan James ‘Bugsy’ Eastwood was a renowned musician and singer who came to prominence in the late 1960s with The Exception, an unsung but excellent band from Birmingham. The Exception released many singles, the first featuring friend Robert Plant on tambourine, before an album, The Exceptional Exception. However, by this time, Bugsy was feeling constrained and restless; he left the band within weeks of the release.

Having vanished from the scene, he was honing a deeper, introspective edge to his songwriting. His demos found their way to the sound engineer and producer Mike Cooper at Pan Music Studios in Denmark Street. Loving what he heard, Eastwood soon entered a recording session with Cooper. The session was just Alan, his guitar and harmonica and - by all accounts - it was remarkable. With the songs, the voice and such an exceptional talent, it was hard to go wrong. Says Mike: "We had John Hawkins do the big string arrangements and Richard Hewson arranged the string quartet. We overdubbed the orchestrations on Alan's original session recordings, adding Chris Karan on tabla and various percussion. We considered re-recording the vocals but found that the magic on that original session was so exceptional overdubbing would not be as good as the atmospheric 'live' performance."

Mike and Alan viewed each track as a different entity, giving the album a diverse sonic palette. Assessing each song individually, they decided which would be suitable for each arranger. Top-flight session musicians were added to the roster to complete the sound, with Byron Lye Fook (father of musician Omar) on drums, bassist Mike Ward, Brian Pickles on marimba and jazz drummer Chris Karan on tabla and percussion. Recorded in a matter of days in Pan's small 8-track studio, they carefully added overdubs, rhythm sections and four string sessions arranged by Hawkins, with Hewson's arrangements recorded at Trident Studios.

Seeds was Alan James Eastwood's debut solo album – indeed, his only solo album - and was originally issued on President in 1971. It melded Eastwood’s impressive rock sensibilities with a folk thread to superb effect. His arresting voice - its deep, rough-hewn soulfulness - coupled with gorgeous string-drenched backing, make this a phenomenal listen. It really is a great 70s singer-songwriter record - with touches of acid-folk and folk-funk throughout.

It opens with "She's Getting Married In August", a mellow tune with Richard Hewson's strings arranged around Alan's straightforward guitar structure. Up next, the joyous, sun-dappled guitar and strings workout "Evenin' Rain" glides by before the fragile, accordion-enhanced "Les Papillons" breezes out of the speakers. The bluesy "Zeena" follows, featuring vocals and acoustic guitar and showcasing Eastwood's effortless harmonica. Starting out as a ballad, "Virgin Morn" builds with soaring strings and gospel-tinged backing vocals from Marilyn Powell and jazz singer Josephine Stahl. The A-side closes with the title track, "Seeds". With a chugging mid-tempo beat, soulful vocals and a beautiful Bacharach-esque string arrangement, it truly is stop-you-in-your-tracks spectacular.

Side B opens with "Crystal Blue", gilded by Lye Fook's marimba, lush gospel-esque backing vocals and handclaps. Eastwood's acoustic guitar begins "Lady Carole", which starts as a bluesy ballad and builds with more string arrangement, lifting the track to another height. A towering highlight of epic proportions, "Lotus Child" is a true masterpiece of arrangement. It opens with simple yet stunning do-do-dah vocal harmonies blended with John Hawkins's strings, bass lines and rhythmic beats, forming a vibe very much in conversation with the sounds coming from LA's Laurel Canyon. Next up, the heartwarming "Last Prayer", dedicated to Alan's first and last love, contains a melancholic vocal with a wistful string-drenched arrangement that would sit comfortably in a Federico Fellini score. Bringing the album to a close, "Hymn For Today" is a melodic raga with tabla, strings and a soft-psych feel. Eastwood's prophetic whisper - "I am real. At last, I am real" - profoundly hits home.

Kicking off the extra disc is the sparsely funky and country-tinged "Boston", released as the flip to the astonishing "Seeds". Next up are the two tracks that comprised Alan’s debut solo 7" single from 1968. The laconic, Bobby Charles-esque "Blackbird Charlie" evidences a real depth and charm in Eastwood's songwriting whilst the starkly brilliant flip, "My Sun", was a horizontal, atmospheric folk-tinged soundtracky precursor to his later work on Seeds.

In 1972, two further standalone singles followed. The first was the evergreen flute-driven folk-funk bomb, "Closer To The Truth", backed by the funky blues of "Strange News". The second, a deeply moving Havens-inspired "Moonchild" - rightly fawned over to this day - was flipped with "Red Shoe Truckin'", a groove-infused track. Eastwood also paired up with Marilyn Powell for a single produced by Powell's partner, Mike Cooper. Under the name Eastwood & Powell, they released their staggering rendition of "Beautiful", a rock-blues-pop song arranged by Ivor Raymonde and written by Carole King. Over on the flip, a funky Eastwood original "Opal Blue Sunday" lurked. This is not to be overlooked.

Over the years, Alan remained active on the music scene, but problems with alcohol and health complications from diabetes severely impacted his career. He spent his latter years living in London until his untimely death from heart failure on 25 October 2007, just one day before his 62nd birthday and without his music having received the real acclaim it so dearly deserved.

This deluxe reissue, spellbinding from beginning to end, should hopefully go some way to rectifying this tragic fact. Mastering for this special double vinyl edition was overseen by Be With regular Simon Francis and it was cut by the esteemed Cicely Balston at Abbey Road Studios to be pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry. The original artwork has been lovingly brought back to life at Be With HQ, with the addition of passionately written liner notes specially for this landmark reissue by none other than Paul Hillery.

This is where it all starts. Without any reminiscing about their former band Operation Ivy, Matt Freeman (bass) and Tim Armstrong (guitar/vocals) blast through their debut without any hints of ska or blatant Clash plagiarizing. On the contrary, this album rips through 15 tracks of high-energy punk that"s accompanied by heavy bass leads and Armstrong"s permanently slurred vocals. And to top it all off, the lyrical content deals with urban blight and the lifestyle of being a public nuisance. With this trademark sound, Rancid provides the perfect soundtrack for any car chase that includes massive property damage; is it a wonder MTV wouldn"t touch this? -Mike DaRonco

Since our first contact with NYC based producer Thavius Beck in 2018, he sent us over 100 unreleased tracks, or beats, as he calls them. 25 of them have been selected for releases on U-TRAX, good for over 2 hours of music, across this album and the Lovesick EP.

Growing up in LA, Thavius Beck entered the hip-hop scene as member of Global Phlowtations, and released several solo albums under the Adlib moniker. In later years, he released five albums under his own name on labels like Mush, Big Dada and Plug Research, and also produced albums for artists like Saul Williams and K‑the‑I???, and did some remixing for amongst others Nine Inch Nails.
Nowadays he combines making music with a career as a succesful certified Ableton and Bitwig trainer and as a music teacher at Berklee NYC.

The tracks vary in style a lot, but what they have in common is that they either are moody – in U-TRAX lingo: deep - or they are drum heavy. The common denominator would probably be 'experimental/instrumental hip-hop', reminiscent of producers like Flying Lotus. People have tried all sorts of comparisons to pinpoint Thavius' sound, ranging from 'between DJ Shadow and Orbital' and 'a mix of Massive Attack and The Orb'. None of these are spot on, yet quite a few of these tracks feel like a happy marriage between hip-hop beats and techno sounds.

Despite the fact that some tracks are 20 years old and have been made with widely different gear (one track was even made on a PlayStation 2), this selection sounds remarkably balanced, yet diverse.

From the irresistible single 'Lovesick/Still Sick' to the dark and massive 'Birdsong' (that echoes the sound of his popular song 'Atmos'), and from the head-nodding 'Work!' to the soothing 'Reunited With The All' - if this collection showcases anything, it's Thavius' brilliant production and composing skills, as well as his wizard-level sampling techniques. The result is a luscious electronic music album with a broad appeal.

Available on double 180 grams colored vinyl vinyl, comes in gatefold picture sleeve.

A1 FORWARD
Was inspired by the revolution of the year of 1988 also referred to as the 2nd summer of love. Revolutions great and small are happening all around us all the time, and they take place in the minds of individuals.

A2 CHARANJIT DRIVE
Describes the revolution i 've got in mind, angelic bass-string harmonic notes flying left and right, Indian-vocals, sudden sped-up dancehall baselines and breaks. Imagine a hippie a homeboy and a funky dread, hugging and dancing and telling their mates how much they love each other in a nice green field while this plays.

B1 HONDA WANDERER
A man in a blue honda civic is traveling through a misty world at a high velocity. Seeking that which is just hiding behind the next bend. I made this after a beautiful misty, raining/sunshine rainbow ride on the autobahn. I had just picked up a cheap mutron bi-phase which was sitting beside me in the passenger seat. It was amazing.

B2 MISTY VALLEY
It's time to get a little bit serious, this one feels like the place where i made all of this music, the village of Ruigoord, covered in a thick winter fog. The remnants of a possible previous reincarnation of myself as an 80s new-beat producer are haunting this music.

all music & artwork by Mozes Meijer, mastering: Wouter Brandenburg, cut: Dubplates & Mastering a&r: Arne Cinema Royale Visser.

Leeds-based noise-rock band Thank drops their second EP Please. Coming out as a joint venture between Buzzhowl Records and Belgium's EXAG, Please is the follow-upto the group's debut EP, 2017's Sexghost Hellscape. While the tension in Please could be too much for some bands to hold, Thank sustainit expertly across the four tracks here. This is thanks in part to superbly-balanced production by Rob Slater and Jamie Lockhart (Greenmount Studios) as well as a meaty mastering job from Declared Sound's Dominic Clare. Furthermore, vocalist Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe (Beige Palace) acts as a lightning rod for both elements of Thank's sound. Vinehill-Cliffe's lyrics tackle by turns Catholic guilt, deaths in the family, his experiences in therapy, sex, loyalty and betrayal. Whatever the subject matter, every syllable of Please is delivered in a selfflagellatingyelp that is equal-parts Xiu Xiuand post-Nite Flights Scott Walker. Such a tragi-comic performance is the perfect focalpoint for Thank's harsh, powerful Please. "A brutally deranged band that mixes krautrock and experimental electronic music into their caterwauling punk, reforming noise rock with robotic grooves and manipulatedsynths." - Post Trash "Thank trade in groovily abrasive riffs, burbling synths, disco-punk drum patterns and high level ranter vocals." - The Quietus